Skip Shea makes good ‘Choices’

Skip Shea of Uxbridge just seems to keep making strides in the independent film world. Shea, who first made cinematic waves with his horror short, “Microcinema,” recently won the Best New England Film Award in the 2012 Massachusetts Independent Film Festival for his short film, “Choices,” which featured actors Michael Reed, Sarah Nicklin and Niki Luparelli.

The film was also nominated for best screenplay, best short and best actress (for Nicklin.)

The awards were given in September, but a video interview with Shea distributed by the Mass. Indie Film Festival gave insight into the film, and Shea’s views on creating and maintaining a local filmmaking community, particularly working with local talent and shooting in Worcester’s Elm Park.

“I think the most important thing here,” says Shea, in the video, “is the sense of community … we all need to work together and support each other together, in order for us all to rise. If we act as if we’re all in competition with each other, we will never elevate all of our crafts.”

Still, Shea’s gratified by the recognition.

“My reaction was and is stunned,” said Shea, in a brief interview. “It is an amazing honor and the other films were terrific. Mine was a little quirky comedy. I mean little. The crew was me. Real small indie microcinema stuff. So, I just didn’t expect it. I didn’t even expect to be nominated. It truly is a credit to the cast. They made it work.”

Shea says he plans to continue to submit to festivals and see what happens.

“I’m working on a few projects,” he said. “I’ve helped produce a horror short with Harvest Tide, ‘Longreach,’ which we hope to adapt to a Web series. I’m producing two more shorts and have two feature-length scripts ready to go once funding is secured. And I’m always writing.” (Victor D. Infante)